Maple Leafs’ Jay McClement excited about team’s new identity

TORONTO — When the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Jay McClement to a two-year contract worth US$3-million last summer, it was done with little fanfare. There was no news conference or questions about prospective linemates. The 30-year-old was simply billed as a depth forward, someone who was going to help kill penalties and play sound defensive hockey.

If he did his job correctly, you were not supposed to notice him. Instead the opposite happened.

In a shortened season where the Leafs made the playoffs and gained a reputation around the league for being difficult to play against, McClement did not fly under the radar. He had eight goals and 17 points in 48 games and at times was an alternate captain. He helped improve Toronto’s penalty killing from third-worst in the league to second-best. And his blue-collar work ethic personified Randy Carlyle’s coaching style.

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For the first time in his professional career, the Toronto native could not walk down the street without being noticed.

“It’s always nice to get recognized,” McClement said. “I’m used to grinding it out and doing my thing and I’m OK with that too. [The attention is] obviously nice. It helps with your confidence. But you have to be careful with that too. I’m just trying to keep my head down and whatever happens on the outside you can never really think about.”

On the outside, expectations have been raised. Not just for McClement, who was on pace for a career-best 13 goals last season, but the entire Leafs.

Toronto, which made the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons, is coming off a year where it finished fifth in the Eastern Conference and was about 10 minutes away from advancing past Boston in the first round. After a busy summer, where the team added forwards David Clarkson and David Bolland as well as goaltender Jonathan Bernier, Toronto is expected to build on last season’s success.

And while Clarkson, a 30-goal scorer two seasons ago, should add to the offence, McClement is more excited about the work ethic of the new additions.

I think when teams come into town they know it’s going to be a hard night

“That’s Randy’s style of team,” he said. “We are expected to play hard. Last year we started to build that identity. And I think to have that identity, you have to do it every night and year in and year out, so we’re going to have to live up to that as well. But it’s definitely something we started to build last year. I think when teams come into town they know it’s going to be a hard night.”

A versatile forward, McClement played everywhere from wing on the second line to centering the fourth line. He could help form a shutdown unit with Bolland and Nikolai Kulemin this season, allowing Carlyle to use his top two lines primarily to provide offence.

Toronto’s team defence, McClement said, will define its success.

“That’s the way we won games,” he said. “We kind of realized when we got away from that we didn’t give ourselves a chance to win. I think we had a good mix of that identity and skilled guys that can take advantage of scoring opportunities too.”

The Leafs, who averaged 26.3 shots per game and allowed 32.3 shots per game, had one of the worst shot differentials in the league last season. It is a reason why some believe the team was lucky to win as many games as it did.

But McClement, who had an even plus-minus rating, said the numbers are misleading. The Leafs were content giving up shots as long as they were from bad angles or far away from the net, he said, and coaches tracked advanced stats on everything from turnover-to-takeaway differential to where players were finishing their bodychecks that provided an accurate indicator of how well the team was playing.

Still, McClement understands that the team has a lot more to live up to when training camp begins in two weeks.

“I think there will be a little excitement around our team with how we did last year and the new additions,” he said. “We’re going to have to manage that the right way and get off to a good start.”